


The Fate That We Chose to Bind Ourselves Cannot Be Untangled

by mhei_lynn



Category: Original Work
Genre: Academy of Adventure, Badass Bookworm, Gen, Great Big Book of Everything, Low stake adventures, Magic, Monster of the Week, Sort Of, Witches, action girl, friends - Freeform, i'm going to use tv tropes as tags, karma houdini, weirdness magnet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2020-11-08 06:49:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20831165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mhei_lynn/pseuds/mhei_lynn
Summary: All these kids wants is a normal life with a dash of fun in their painfully boring town. In the price of having fun, they invited the unnormal that threatens the very peaceful lives of them and the town.orA shy girl who has troubles making friends, a nerd who was also a delinquent, a jock who's good at guessing games, and a charming bubbly band guy with a big brother persona, discovers that magic is indeed real.





	1. The Beginning

The town of Denovil was as simple and boring as a town could get. Everything was a rinse and repeated pattern with no excitement except for the occasional shenanigans of some stupid teenagers.

It was a small town where everyone knew everyone. And one of the residents in this rather plain town was old man Boas.

Mr Boas, a rather unnerving man who seemed like he could see every bit of your soul, and yet you never seem to know anything about him.

The town only knows three things about Mr Boas. One, he is called Mr Boas. Two, he is old. And three, he owns this dainty looking shop simply called as "Boas" that sells a lot of old stuff. From antique photos of dead people to the very fake framed fairy wings, Mr Boas sells a lot of odd stuff.

Perhaps the only thing that wasn't old nor odd in Mr Boas' shop was a tablet. It didn't match with the entire dainty aesthetic of the shop, but it works well when it's a slow day. And that was almost every day.

Today Mr Boas was watching some musical parody of some Disney movie that he couldn't quite remember the title, but Mr Boas quite like what he was watching.

His eyes focused on the tablet had finally looked up when the door to his shop suddenly opened. _He had a customer._

It was a student, Mr Boas observed. He thinks that she is part of the family that had recently moved that his neighbour Margaret was gossiping about this morning.

Mr Boas looked at the girl with curiosity. He smiled when he looked more closely at the child.

_'How pitiful...' _Mr Boas had thought to himself.

He amused himself, as the girl went to the books section. _'or perhaps lucky, who knows?'_

"Which would be better, to have nothing or to have lost everything?" Mr Boas muttered, pondering to himself.

The old man approached the teenager who had an old leather-clad book in her hands.

"Are you sure about that, lightless lady?"

Mr Boas chuckled when the girl jumped in fright.

"Ummm, pardon?" the girl asked.

"Do you really wish to have that?" Mr Boas pointed at the book. "Perhaps it will make you happy for now, but what of the future?"

"The future is something you never know. If you make such a choice now, I do not think you'll be able to escape the path you have taken. Would you regret your choices then, lightless lady?"

The girl looked at him weirdly before answering "Umm... I don't think I'll ever regret buying a book? Perhaps I wouldn't enjoy reading it in the future, but at least I know that I'll be happy now"

_"...I think that's what's important..." _the girl mumbled to herself.

Mr Boas stared at her, before chuckling to himself. Of course, she wouldn't understand.

"Now that will be 3 dollars"

"Ahh yes!" the girl frantically reached into her bah, looking for her wallet.

"Well, pleasure to meet you lady" Mr Boas wrapped the girl's purchase, giving it to her after she had paid.

"Thank you" the girl had left.

_Fate ties easily but trying to untangle it? _

_Not so easy._

"Good luck lady"


	2. I was Never Attention Sweet Center

If a person had asked who Willow Wardwell was, most people would look confused, no clue to who they were talking about. A few might think that she is quiet, but not know more than that. Close family would say that she is slightly weird, with her constant muttering and odd symbols she draws over her skin.

And maybe that’s exactly what Willow was, forgettable and slightly weird, with her muttering and drawing.

Right now Willow was being her usual self, nervously drawing odd symbols, or sigils as she prefers to call it, on her way to school. She drew all over her notebook, wishing for friends with every stroke.

She muttered, chanting one phrase during the entire car ride.

_ ‘I’mgonnabefineI’mgonnabefineI’mgonnabefineI’mgonnabefineI’mgonn-‘_

“Nervous?” Her brother, William, glanced at her from the car’s mirror.

Willow gave him an awkward smile. She turned back to her notebook, for a split second she thought she something glow. But she shrugged it off, must have been the sun.

“I know that high school is really hard especially since we had to move for the fourth-“

“fifth…” she muttered.

“-time this year” Her brother continued. “But I promise you, everything is gonna be fine. Who knows? Maybe you’ll actually make friends this time”

Willow looked at her older brother, conveying the messages that she sincerely doubted what he was saying.

“Well, we’re here. I won’t be able to pick you up later, you’ll be alright?”

She nodded, dragging herself out of the car. Finally entering the school.

* * *

Willow brought out her notebook, writing the lecture that the teacher had given out.

“Cool notebook!” Willow jumped from the voice. It was her seatmate, _Antonio._

“Thanks…” she muttered.

“Are those gang symbols?” He peered more closely, his curly hair almost touching Willow’s face.

It took a few seconds for her to realize what he was talking about. Willow shook her head, denying vehemently.

“Mr Rist, please stop bothering Ms Wardwell with her work”

Antonio laughed, “Sorry-“

“Uhmm sir” Willow spoke up. “Mr Rist was actually helping me with something I didn’t understand”

“Is that so Ms Wardwell?” the tone of the teacher’s voice held disbelief but luckily he didn’t push it.

“Continue with your work” Willow sighed, glad that the confrontation was over.

She turned to her notebook, writing again.

“Thanks for that” Antonio grinned at her. “So what are those?” he pointed at the symbols repeatedly written all over her notebook.

“Those… They’re nothing, just some silly drawings” Willow lied, she doesn’t dare say it.

She couldn’t admit that those symbols were sigils, protective charms of sorts. She didn’t want to be called weird and creepy again.

Luckily Antonio didn’t push it, and class ended without a fuss.

Willow took another looked at her schedule. She smiled, it was one of her favourite subjects.

“What’s your next subject?” Willow jumped again.

“Chemistry…” she answered.

Antonio grinned. “We’re going the same way! I have English, do you wanna go together?” he chirped.

Willow froze. “…are ... are you sure?”

“Let’s go” Antonio took her arm, beaming with excitement, finally walking towards their classes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> meet our first protagonist! I kind of based her on how I acted when I was younger, too shy and won't talk a lot   
also, the title is taken from the song "she used to be mine"
> 
> this chapter was graded as a 79 by grammarly


	3. A Woman is Nothing but which She Makes Herself

If a person had asked who Anne Hutchins was, a collective of people would sigh before answering. _Smart, _one side would say. _Trouble, _another would say.

And maybe that's exactly Anne was, pretty damn smart and would and could throw hands with almost anybody.

Right now Anne was currently glaring at the hoodie she had to borrow from her friend.

_'Stupid fucking dress code' _she stopped herself from ripping the large article of clothing she was wearing.

"And my outfit was really cute too..." she grumbled to herself, repeatedly tapping her pen on the desk.

"Ms Hutchins"

"Hmm?" Anne lazily looked up to her teachers.

"Are you listening to class, Ms Hutchins? Did you even understand a single thing I said?" Anne glanced at the board, she thought she felt something strange. She shrugged it off, reading what was written instead.

"Man is nothing else but which he makes of himself".

_'Ah, Jean Paule Sarte' _Anne immediately thought.

"Well Ms Hutchins, are you even too dumb to answer?" Her teacher asked, mocking her.

This irked her. Hearing the snickering of her classmates just further annoyed her.

She smiled at her teacher. "Existence precedes essence. The existence you chose shall be what you are and not the other way around" She answered.

Maybe it was slightly petty, but the silence did please her. "I do understand it, sir. The only thing that I don't quite get is how you thought wearing sandals with those ugly socks was a good idea"

The class burst out of laughter. The teacher glared at her, before continuing the discussion.

* * *

_'Huh, that's kinda rare' _Anne thought, staring at the transfer student.

"Ms Wardwell how about you sit next to Ms Hutchins," She said before going to the board, writing the lesson for today.

Anne saw how the new kid's face turned from one of confusion to panic once she realized she has no clue who _Ms Hutchins _was.

Now, Anne could try not to be a jerk, by raising her hand to signify that she is Ms Hutchins. But honestly?

She doesn't care a lot. So she simply ignored her. At the corner of her eyes, she saw a classmate point towards her.

"...h-hi..." She heard her pull the seat beside her. Anne simply clicked her tongue, ignoring her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> socks + sandals = usually a bad idea.
> 
> But Ashley, aka bestdressed, probably can rock it or has already rocked it.


	4. Bet?

If a person had asked who Casper Lacey was, a lot of people would mention that he’s part of the basketball team. Close friends, families and oddly observant people would say that he’s really good at lottery.

And maybe that’s exactly what Casper was, an athlete who was really lucky.

Right now Casper was bickering with his friend. He and Anne walk and argue.

“I’m telling you, there’s no way they are letting you get away with that”

“Oh so guys can wear t-shirts with fucking ahegao faces printed on it but I show a bit of shoulder and suddenly all hell breaks loose. Ugh, that’s not fair” Anne whined, somehow she managed to make his large hoodie look fashionable as she wore it.

“Willow!” Casper heard someone yell. He looked and saw Antonio running towards a girl.

“Wanna get lunch together?” he heard him ask.

Casper stared at the girl. “Huh, who’s that?” he asked.

Anne followed his line of sight. “That’s the transferee”

“Wow, she sure is quick,” Casper said as they walk along the cafeteria, watching as the new kid and Antonio talked.

Anne sat on one of the empty tables. “Wait isn’t Antonio dating someone already? What’s her name? Jennie? Joanna? Jessica?” Casper proceeded to grab an apple from Anne’s food.

“You mean Jenna? I think they broke up like a week ag- Come on its just one apple!” Casper whined when Anne swatted his hand away.

“No” Anne ripped the packaging of the convenience store sandwich. “Speaking of dating, isn’t Jay and Remy pretty close?” she gestured at the direction of the two guys.

Casper stared at them, then frowned. “No… I don’t think they are. I think they’re just friends”

“His hand is literally wrapped around his waist”

“Yeah… but I think Remy is dating Hayden?”

Anne made a face. “You mean the guy I punched last year because he was being homophobic bitch towards you? Dude no way, Remy can do better. Ten bucks on him dating Jay”

“Fine. I still think it’s Hayden”

Anne simply smiled. “Well you better start saving because I am getting those ten bucks”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to put this out on Thursday but I forgot because I kept on thinking about the research defence that we were supposed to have.
> 
> In all cases, that's all over and now I have a marketing and entrepreneurship defence and a portfolio to make *cries*
> 
> Also, our philosophy teacher wanted us to write a eulogy about our own death so thats cool.


	5. All He Knows is His Aunt is Swindling Money from Poor People

If a person had asked who Antonio Rist was, people would only speak of good things. Kind, charming, sweet, and talented.

And maybe that’s exactly what Antonio was, the friendly kid who brings his guitar literally everywhere.

Right now Antonio was sitting on his desk. He adjusted his headphones, humming along with the song he was listening.

“Class settle down” He removed his headphones as soon as the teacher came in, a girl followed behind him.

“This is Willow Wardwell; she’ll be joining us from now on. Why don’t you say hello Ms Wardwell?”

Antonio wondered what kind of person the girl was. _Preppy? Jokester? Studious?_

“H-hi…”

_‘Ahh, that type’_

“Ms Wardwell, you can sit beside Mr Rist” Antonio waved eagerly at her. He grinned, he had a new friend to make.

The girl walked towards her, awkwardly waving back.

“Hey I’m Antonio!” he extended out his arm, smiling when the other shook it.

“Willow…” she murmured, sitting at the desk beside him.

“Okay, class I’m going to need you guys to copy this. It’ll be on our test this Friday” A majority of his classmates groaned out. The new girl stayed quiet, simply taking out a notebook from her bag, Antonio did the same.

“Cool Notebook!” He exclaimed.

He heard her mutter a small thanks but Antonio was too busy observing the symbols. He saw it before; he just doesn’t know where.

“Are those gang symbols?” He knows it isn’t, but it was still funny to see her reaction.

=-=-=-=-=-

_‘Oh, they’re sigilles’ _Antonio realizes, or at least he thinks that’s what they’re called. He’s been thinking about those strange symbols all day; he didn’t know why it bothered him so much.

But now he remembers. He saw it from his aunt, she said that they were charms?

Antonio wasn’t really sure. All he knows that magic isn’t real. And that his aunt is swindling money from mourning people.

“Brother!!! Play the song again!” his little brother ran towards him.

“Yeah again!” his little sister yelled, raising her arms up. Antonio smiled, hoisting his sister up. “And what song is that, Kristina?” He asked, holding her close to him.

Kristina giggled “The one from yesterday”. Antonio twirled his little sister around before setting her down.

“Sorry Kristina, your brother doesn’t remember that song anymore. Now, now, I’ll just play you an even better one” he added to appease his siblings.

“Yayy!” his brother, Manny, exclaimed.

Antonio grabbed his guitar, simply playing at random. Making it up as he goes along. He grinned as his other little brother Jose joined them, dancing. He started playing a more upbeat tune as Kristina and Manny also danced along.

“Okay that’s enough, you guys still have homework”

“But-“

“We can sing later on okay?”

“Promise?”

“Promise” Antonio smiled as the three went to their rooms to do their homework.

“Tinkerbell!” he heard his youngest sister said.

“What is it, Julia?”

“Tinkerbell!” She pointed behind him.

Antonio looked behind him. He shifted a bit, it felt like someone was looking at him. He took the fairy doll placed at the window sill and gave it to her sister.

“Here you go Julia” He ruffled her hair, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final main character is now introduced which means we could move with the (very nonexisting) plot.
> 
> Let me know who out of the four do you like best?


	6. The “Hahaha, I’ll turn you into a frog!” kind of magic.

Willow’s grin reached from ear to ear. She hid her face with the book, trying to suppress her laughter with it. She was convinced that her brother was convinced that she was slowly going insane. No need to add maniacal laughter in a dark creepy basement reading an old book to his worries.

Eyes gleaming as the result of her experiment bore success. Her smile was as big as the crescent moon as she observed her small project.

“… huhuhuhu… hahahAHA!-“ Willow burst out laughing. “Willow are you sure you’re okay down there?” She heard her brother’s muffled voice from up above.  _Great,_ now she can definitely add an insane sister to her brother’s list of growing concerns.

The door slowly opened. “Is everything alright?” Her brother’s head peaked through the door. “I-It’s fine! Nothing to worry about, just been giddy lately” Not a lie. Since what happened yesterday, She’s been in a great mood.

It started with her, trying her best to peeked through the dirty window to see what was inside the shop.

It had that antique vibe that you’ll see on Pinterest or Instagram.  _‘Of course, it’ll have an antique vibe, it’s an antique shop you idiot’ _ Willow told herself.

Willow gathered her courage to do a simple menial task, she opened the door in front of her. It was honestly so ridiculous, getting anxiety for entering a store.

The bell jingled as she entered. She took in her surroundings, an old man was on the cashier’s counter, watching something. Willow had remembered watching the show with her brother. She smiled, quietly humming along with the songs.

Willow walked towards the book section, lazily scanning the titles on the spines of the books. She stopped, staring at one of the books. It was old and dusty, not to mention the leather cover was wearing down; it had no title.

She reached for the book, feeling some sort of attraction for it. “Are you sure about that, lightless lady?” Willow jumped, her grip on the book became tighter.

“Ummm, pardon?” she asked.  _‘Did I hear right? Did he just call me “lightless lady”? Is that an insult, I mean that sounds like a cool title for a DND character like… umm… Kieran O’Dwyer, the lightless lady’_

“Would you regret your choices then, lightless lady?”

_He did call me lightless lady’ _ Willow tried hard to not look at the man oddly, she doesn’t know if she actually succeeded in that.

Willow quickly paid for the book, she could have sworn she heard someone wish her luck but she shrugged it off, she’s been seeing and hearing a lot of stuff that aren’t there lately.

* * *

_Sé bóc_

Willow blinked. The words were written in an unfamiliar language. She flips through the pages scanning.  _‘Yep, all foreign’ _ She sighed grabbing her phone to translate it.

_The book. _ It literally spelt book. Few minutes used to translate something and it said book, just book. She let out a small laugh, this felt like it was going to be absolute fun. She looks at the different pages, trying to find something that will catch her eyes.

She stopped on a page. “Whoa…” It was an entire ink drawing of a night sky, it was completely mesmerizing. The page beside it had two hands drawn in an intricate position, below the drawing were words. Willow decided to translate the text.

_‘In the darkest moments, there shall be light’ _Willow read, remembering it as one of those pictures on Pinterest if you search up “inspirational quotes”

Though it can also be an incantation, Willow guessed. No, not the ‘Hahaha, I’ll turn you into a frog!’ kind of incantation _(because as much as she practices “witchcraft”, magic isn’t real, at least not that type), _but more of as a mantra. After all, words itself carry magic in them.

“In the darkest moments, there shall be light…” She muttered, nothing happened of course. She sighed, she couldn’t be dumb enough to actually believe something would happen.

She stared at the book again admiring the drawing again. She tried her best to mimic the set of hands. “In the darkest moments, the shall be light” she repeated as if doing some cool hand motion would change anythi- Holy shit there was a glowing orb in front of her.

She only stared, too shocked to form any sort of words. Her whole room was covered in tiny glowing orbs just floating around. She tried to poke one but her finger just went through like with any source of light.

A minute later the orbs slowly flickered out before disappearing. She sat on her bed, frozen…

“Holy shit…”

After that Willow had a mini-breakdown, because magic is apparently real and in the “Hahaha, I’ll turn you into a frog!” type of magic.

Willow began translating the rest of the book that Friday night, putting sticky notes with the translations on it _(because she is not going to ruin the aesthetic by scribbling on the book with chicken scratch)_

She even tried out more of the harmless spells along the way and avoiding anything that sounds remotely dangerous (She saw one where you can summon a giant spider, yikes). Her eyes grew brighter with each successful incantation.

She smiled, this might be one of the happiest moments of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Wardwell family taking Willow to a picnic near lake when she was a child is Willow’s happiest moment. Magic can’t beat that shit.
> 
> What’s one of your happiest moments in life?
> 
> Mine was when me and my family visited Puerto Princesa and we went to the underground river, that made me real giddy.


	7. Roasted Spider Legs Tastes Like Bad Decisions

Anne doesn’t like Willow. No, Willow didn’t do anything to her. No, she isn’t being terrible to anyone at all. Yes, Anne was being a bitch in this situation.

Anne just doesn’t like her, she was too shy, too quiet, too _meek. _But she has to agree that she was incredibly smart. Willow was zooming through her own worksheet, the teacher paired them to do the worksheet and help each other with it. Which will probably never happen because they were both competent enough to do it by their selves. Anne shook her head, she had her own worksheet to deal with.

Anne frowned, she couldn’t really understand this one particular question. She peeked at her partner’s worksheet, already halfway done with everything.

She sighed. “…Willow, how do you do this part?” Willow jumped, clearly startled. She hesitantly pushed her worksheet towards Anne.

Anne clicked her tongue. “I’m not just going to copy your answer; I want you to teach me” She huffed out.

“…W-well this is how Mrs Vernal does it, but-“ Willow scooted closer to Anne for her to see the example “-there’s a shortcut you can do which is this…” Willow slowly answered the example question.

“Huh…that’s actually simpler than I thought” Anne moved to answer the question she had a problem, now solving it with relative ease.

The two went back to solving their own problems Anne took another peek at Willow’s work, she was already done with everything and was simply fiddling around with her phone.

“You can go if you’re done you know?”

“…I guess…” she muttered. “S-see you tomorrow” Willow quietly packed her things and left.

* * *

Anne checked the worksheet to see if she missed any questions. “Ugh. Fucking finally” she started to jam her stuff in her bag.

She was about to leave and look for her friend when she noticed a book on the ground. She opened it, a note was stuck on the front page, _Willow Wardwell_. It must have been left behind when she left.

Anne flipped through the pages before she burst out laughing. The pages were filled with sticky notes of different spells and any of the other bullshit it has. _‘This is ridiculous’ _she thought to herself.

“Hey Anne, you done yet?” her friend Caper, leaned on the wall of the room, and for some reason, the Antonio guy was also with him. ‘_Are they hooking up? …Nah’_

“Casper look at this” She waved the book around, completely ignoring his question. Casper walked towards her with a questioning look on his face, “What’s that?”

“Some sort of Hocus Pocus book by the new kid” Anne flipped through the pages. “Seriously? What is she five?” Casper snickered.

“Maybe she’s crazy…”

“Hey! Stop making fun of her” Antonio said.

“Oh come on Antonio, your girlfriend isn’t even here. No harm done”

“She’s not my girlfri-“

“Hey what if we do one of these spells for fun?!” She said stopping at a particular page with spiders drawn on them.

“I don’t know about that Anne. I don’t think we should mess around with this, just a bad feeling” Casper said, disgust on his face when he saw the detailed spider drawing.

“Don’t be such a stick in the ass, it’s not like anything’s gonna happen” Anne latched herself to her friend. “Or maybe you actually think something’s gonna happen?”

Casper pushed her off, scoffing. “As if…”

“Can you guys hurry up? Casper and I still need to buy some materials for Mr Santos’ class”

“Let me just do this one spell, it’ll be fun” The two boys let out a sigh, knowing very well they be able to win against one of the most stubborn girls in Denovil.

Anne mimicked the hand motions drawn and started to say the incantation in the most mocking way possible. “See Casper told you nothing was gonna ha-“

Suddenly a big circle appeared hovering in the front of the room. Slowly a black furry pole appeared, and another, and then another. Anne was beginning to think that they might be legs rather than poles.

Soon a big black body appeared attached to the legs. And then it’s head. Anne could feel the shiver ran across her body, as she feels it’s thousand eyes just watching her.

“What the fuck?” Casper said the words that Anne was thinking. The monster let out a horrific screech, eyeing all of them hungrily. Its fang laid bare, purple liquid coating the spider-like monster’s entire mouth.

The three stood there, frozen. Because no fucking school could ever prepare them for whatever the fuck is happening right now. Suddenly, Anne with her internal freakout and the stream of what the ever-loving fuck in her mind, managed to hear footsteps.

She eyed the door when some girl walked by. “Excuse me, did I leave some- What the fuck?!” The monster’s leg tried to hit her, destroying the door. She ducked before it could hit her, running towards the three.

“…what was that?”

“I don’t know Willow, it’s your book”

“You used my book?!” Another screech ripped through the air.

“Yes, I used it! Lecture me later!” Anne shoved the book towards Willow’s hands. The pages flipping through the pages before landing on one specific page. Willow did the hand motions drawn on the pages before muttering something.

Fire came out of her hands, Willow lets out a scream and quickly directed the flames towards the giant spider. It let out a deafening shriek, clearly hurt. But the fire quickly fizzled out of Willow’s hands and Antonio dragged her back down to hide under the table.

“What are you doing Willow? That’s dangerous!” Antonio began checking her hands, probably looking for burns Anne thought.

“It’s weak to fire, b-but I’m not really any good…”

“Fire?!” Anne yelled. “Are you insane?! This is a lab, half the things here are- “ The gears in her head suddenly clicked to its’ places. She ran to the nearest cabinet, about to let every single lab safety warnings her teachers have lectured about fly out of her head.

_‘EthanolEthanolEthanolEthanolEthanolEthanol… Ah, found it!’ _She took the bottle, throwing it to Casper. “Throw it in its mouth”

Casper’s eyes widen. “Fuck no! I’ll get stabbed”

“Just do it!” She hissed back.

“If I die, I’m haunting you all…” Casper stood up, throwing the bottle at the giant spider’s open mouth. It let out another ear grating shriek. “Now!”

Willow’s hand sprouted fire which she quickly threw at the monster. The spider rampaged as its head caught fire, slowly spreading to the rest of its body. The four stared as the ashes pile on, still on fire.

“What in the world do you think you are doing?!” _Great, they’re screwed now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ethanol, according to one singular google search (so please don’t quote me on this), is a colourless flammable liquid that has a pungent taste.
> 
> This chapter is brought to you by me, one dumb motherfucker who doesn’t like reading action and sincerely hates writing action but still insisting on writing this action/adventure story like a dumb fuck.


	8. The Start of Something, Whatever that Might Be

_ “What in the world do you think you are doing?!” _

Casper simply stared at the chemistry teacher, Mrs. Vernal. He was panicking, not because Mrs. Vernal ( who is one of the more strict teachers) is most likely going to expel them for setting a fire in the chem lab. No, he was panicking because HE ALMOST BECAME SPIDER FOOD EARLIER.

He knew that book was a bad idea. Sometimes he hates being right.

The new kid started babbling about the book and the spider. If Casper hadn’t just seen everything that happened, he’ll think that she’s crazy. He could see his teacher’s face grow increasingly frustrated at her.

“Miss Wardwell…” the chemistry teacher began, and from the tone of her voice, Casper knew this wasn’t going to end well. “Just because your father is good friends with the principal, doesn’t mean you can freely do anything”

“I… I’m not-” Antonio placed a hand on Willow’s shoulder, cutting off whatever she was about to say.

Antonio gave Mrs. Vernal an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry Ma’am, I was the one who started the fire and broke the door. Please do not blame her” He stepped forward, subtly shielding Willow from the teacher. Casper managed to catch the small smile Antonio sent Willow’s way.

The chemistry teacher eyed Antonio with suspicious eyes before letting out a long, heavy sigh. “A week’s suspension-  _ “What?!”  _ Mrs. Vernal glared at Anne.

“Also I’m calling your parents” And then Anne did what Anne did best, Anne let out a string of profanities

* * *

“Thi is rather disappointing Casper” His mother frowned, giving him a look. Casper avoided her eyes, not knowing what to say.

He is absolutely not guilty for almost burning down the lab. It’s just that what happened was really hard to explain without sounding insane.

“Are you gonna do it again?” His father asked. He shook his head.

“Okay, there’s that then”

“Dear!” His mother swatted his father’s shoulder. “Don’t encourage him” she hissed.

“Hey, he rarely gets in trouble, sort of. Let him have some fun”

_ “Burning chemistry labs isn’t considered fun, Christoph!”  _ Yeah, she got you there dad.

His parents were soon escorted to the principal’s office while they were waiting for the other three’s parents to show up.

Later on, Anne’s mom came which resulted in a shouting competition between the two. Antonio’s mom was scolding his son, probably, Casper can’t understand what language they were talking in. Willow’s dad? Casper thinks it might be her brother, he looked really young. Willow’s dad slash maybe brother simply ruffled her hair before joining the rest of the parents in the office.

All four of them sat outside the principal’s office, Casper could hear the adults talking but it was all murmurs to him.

“So…” Oh no, he didn’t like where Anne was gonna go with this, “Think you can teach me how to shoot fire out of my hands?”

“No!” his voice mixed with Antonio’s, both in protest. Anne glared at him, not relenting.

“Hey Willow! Exchange numbers with me and then you can teach me more of this hocus pocus shit” Anne practically shoved him away just to get to Willow.

The other looks excited with the number exchange when Casper heard Antonio sigh. “Can I also have your numbers?”

Willow gave it without an ounce of hesitation but Anne gave Antonio a look. “You’re not my type playboy”

“I’m not-” Antonio sighed again. Casper snickered, serve his handsome face right, he pettily thinks. “Someone needs to make sure that you guys don’t burn down the whole town”

“I’m not that bad” Casper gave his friend an unimpressed look. “Besides, look at Willow, she’s such a goody-two-shoes. She would never”

Casper raised an eyebrow. “Her first thought was to set something on fire,” He said. “You know what? Yeah, you guys need watching for the safety of the rest of us, give me your number”

Willow looked at him with gleaming eyes and perhaps Casper should have known that this was the start of something, whatever that might be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus content because I wrote this when I was going through an ATLA phase
> 
> Anne: So, can you teach me that fire thing?  
Casper + Antonio: No!  
Anne: Come on Cas! I can finally firebend like Zuko  
Casper: ...isn’t your favorite Sokka?  
Anne: Yeah but firebending is cool too. What’s your favorite? Casper likes Zuko  
Casper: My childhood crush, yes  
Antonio: Katara was pretty cool  
Anne: Somehow I saw that one coming. What about you Willow?  
Willow: Azula  
*All three are extremely shocked because no one saw that coming*


End file.
